bark, bugs, leaves, & lizards

Party On

by dsb nola on February 8, 2010

Not Even Close

by dsb nola on February 7, 2010

Congratulations to Mitch Landrieu. It will be a relief to have a competent mayor who can speak whole sentences at a time without offending people and who has the intelligence and fortitude to deal with our city’s biggest challenges. I was excited about his campaign when he ran last time, because back then I thought he was the one politician who could build a multiracial coalition of support. Then I wavered in that belief.  He didn’t do it last time but he sure seemed to do it yesterday. Sixty-six percent of the vote!

But how about John Georges?  He spent more than $340 per vote ($2.8 million in total according to his late December filings, so his per vote average will be jumping; he received only 8,189 votes).  There’s your smart business man.

James Perry received only 2,702 votes, or 3 %.  Not quite runoff territory.  He was a good candidate, but his lack of a traditional campaign presence did him in.  I’d like to see him join the Landrieu Administration in some capacity.

I was sorry to see Janis Lemle missed the runoff in the assessor’s race, but at least Claude Mauberret is out of the picture.

There you have it, my perfectly benign political observations of the day.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled life.

Why I Think Mitch Landrieu Supporters Should Vote For James Perry Today

by dsb nola on February 6, 2010

Mitch Landrieu seems like a great guy, charismatic, knowledgeable, he can sing … there’s a lot to like about him.  I don’t have anything against him.  I’m not close to being one of those Landrieu haters.  If my preferred candidate, James Perry, doesn’t make the runoff, I’ll support Landrieu and I won’t even whine about it.

But you still shouldn’t vote for Mitch Landrieu today.

Mitch has a good shot at breaking 50%,  but if he doesn’t, imagine what the runoff would be like if, say, the #2 vote getter is John Georges?  Do you believe that would be a productive exercise?  Georges would go into full mudsling mode and there would be very little, if any, actual policy debate.  How about a runoff with Troy Henry?  Same thing but worse.  It would be Landrieu-Nagin II, a racially divisive mess.  It would be terrible for the city.  Landrieu would probably beat both Georges and Henry, but again, the month of debate would be devoid of policy discussion and would only pump up distrust and cynicism.

But if Perry could somehow make the runoff?  The city would be treated to a month of adult conversation about the future of New Orleans.  In the candidate forum last month sponsored by Musicswingsvotes.org, Perry said he voted for Landrieu in the last election, in part because Nagin ran such a racially divisive campaign.  Perry wouldn’t play it like Georges or Henry.  The last thing he wants to do is toy with racial animosity, and he clearly respects Landrieu.

A Landrieu-Perry runoff would also press Landrieu to be more concrete regarding his vision for the city’s future.  He would be obligated to move beyond happy talk about how he knows how to get things done, which may very well be true, but it would be better for the city if he would make more tangible policy commitments and better explain his priorities.  It’s a conversation the city needs and a mayoral election is an ideal opportunity for it.  Landrieu has been given mostly a free ride up to this point.

Granted, if Perry made the runoff his campaign could catch fire and he could beat Landrieu.  Anything can happen in a runoff.  But if Landrieu really does have a more compelling vision for our city’s future and the know-how to achieve it, then in a campaign sure to be celebrated for its civility and wonkishness, his ideas should be able to win the day, especially given his well established political base, and the city would be all the better for it.

How Should Someone (I’m Looking At You, Georges) Own Up To Blackface?

by dsb nola on February 5, 2010

In last night’s mayoral debate John Georges denied Dambala’s claim (in the person of Roy Couhig) that Georges and his frat buddies at Tulane wore blackface (for annual parties) in the 1980s, or that Georges supervised the wearing of blackface as president of his fraternity.  Predictably, Georges went with the bloggers-are-losers defense.  He’s cowardly trying to run out the clock.  If he gets into the runoff, and if reporters start asking him about it, he’ll probably do a modified Vitty-cent where he admits to a vague sin or two and then clams up.  At best.  If he doesn’t make the runoff, I bet he’ll never address it.

But how might a white guy own up to such racially insensitive actions from his past and still persuade voters he’s sincere and that he gets it–or, if he doesn’t “get it,” at least show that he knows he’s supposed to?

Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan in 1999 faced just such a situation.  It was revealed that he performed  in the early 1960s in blackface as part of minstrel shows for annual Kiwanis Club fundraisers.  Here’s what Carnahan told an AP reporter:

I regret having been in them and I regret the insensitivity that’s shown, but I do think I have grown.  I grew rather quickly, sponsoring civil rights legislation in 1965.

So how’d that play out for Carnahan?  In 2000, three weeks after being killed in a plane crash, he was re-elected governor, beating John Ashcroft.

(h/t JC)

By The Way

by dsb nola on February 4, 2010

G Bitch, despite feeling lousy, has been tearing it up writing about education in New Orleans.

Just Shoot Me …

by dsb nola on

… if I ever blog about anything Facebook-related.

Not Good Enough

by dsb nola on February 3, 2010

Rahm Emanuel stepped in it when he called liberals “retarded” and so he had a conversation with Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver.  Emanuel duly apologized and a White House official said that Shiver “accepted” the apology.  But that’s apparently not the case, according to vice president for communications at the Special Olympics, Kirsten Seckler:

Tim didn’t accept his apology.  Tim can’t do that.  He can’t accept an apology on behalf of all people with disabilities.

Maybe Rahm can get census workers to help him out with that.

John Georges … In Blackface?

by dsb nola on

Dambala is on the trail.  Is there anything to like about Georges?  Anything?

Though unrelated, I think this sentence by Steve Benen (about disingenuous Republican squawking re: Mirandizing of the undiebomber) could be applied to Georges as well:

Facts just keep getting in the way of a perfectly misleading narrative.

Because The Army Corps Of Engineers Has Been Such A Successful Model

by dsb nola on

Let’s create a Navy Corps of Nuclear Engineering to oversea the construction of a bunch of nuclear power plants.  What could go wrong?

(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

Separated @ Birth

by dsb nola on February 2, 2010

At first glance I thought the new Jazz Fest poster, painted by Tony Bennett–yes, that Tony Bennett–featured Monkee Mickey Dolenz.

But it’s actually Louis Prima.  Of course. The horn should’ve been the giveaway.  Oh, and it would’ve been absurd to have a Monkee on a Jazz Fest poster.  There’s that, too.